Firing mechanism control



March 22, 394% F. F. RUAU FIRING MECHANISM CONTROL Filed June 15, 1944 Patented Mar. 22, 1949 FIRING MECHANISM GONTEOL Application Ziune 15, 1944, Serial No. 540,494 In Great Britain June 15, 1943 Claims. I

This invention concerns improvements in or relating to ordnance and in particular to the firing mechanisms for ordnance in which rounds are fed automatically into the breech and in which the breech is opened automatically during the run-out or counterrecoil movement of the barrel to eject a spent cartridge and is caused to close automatically on the insertion of a round. Such ordnance is referred to hereinafter for convenience as an automatic gun.

It is sometimes desirable in an automatic gun of the kind described to prevent firing taking place automatically and to ensure that there will be a separate conscious manual operation in the firing of each round, such an arrangement being intended to ensure that the gun is properly laid for each shot. This object is achieved according to the invention by providing an automatic gun having fire-control-mechanism adapted to operate the breech trigger mechanism, wherein a part of said fire-control-mechanism is movable from an operative position to an inoperative position and wherein means is provided to move said movable part during a part at least of the runout to the inoperative position. The said movable part may have a push-rod for operating the trigger-mechanism, which rod is caused to be actuated on manual control and is adapted to engage an abutment (e. g. a part of the fire-control-mechanism) to prevent its return to the operative position until the rod is moved out of the way thereof. The said movable part of the firecontrol-mechanism may comprise a pivotally mounted tube in which the push-rod is mounted and a spring within the tube to press the rod outwards and afiord a spring-urged push-rod, and manually controlled liquid-pressure-means may be provided to move the rod clear of the abutment and thereafter to cause it to operate the trigger mechanism. By this arrangement unless the manually controlled means is operated after each shot, so as to move the rod clear of the abutment, the movable part of the fire-controlmechanism will be held in the inoperative position and will remain in that inoperative position until the manually controlled means is operated. On such operation the rod will be moved clear of the abutment and will move down into the operative position and further manipulation of the manually controlled means will cause the rod to move again and cause a further round to be fired.

It is also an object of the invention to ensure in an automatic gun having fire-control devices ing a magazine comprising a member adapted to engage and to be movable with the rounds in the magazine (e. g. a pressure device to feed the rounds), that the firing mechanism will under normal conditions be rendered inoperative after the last round has been rammed. This object is achieved according to the present invention by providing in such an automatic gun an operative connection between said movable member and a part of the fire-control-mechanism, said part being arranged to be movable from the operative to an inoperative position, said operative connection being arranged to move said movable part to an inoperative position when the movable member has moved to a predetermined position due to the last round having been fed from the magazine. The parts are so arranged that with.- dz awal of the movable member from the position it occupies after the last round has been fed, will cause the movable part of the fire-controlmechanism to return to an operative position. This arrangement ensures that when the last round in the magazine has been fed so as to be rammed into the breech the round cannot be fired unless the movable part of the fire-controlmechanism is returned to the operative position. This arrangement ensures that the gunner cannot accidentally fire the gun when there are no more rounds in the magazine. This is an important feature since, if that last round is fired, one round has to be hand-loaded into the breech before it is possible to fire the gun again. Thus although the gunner has control over the firing of the last round, if he is unaware that there are no more rounds left, ordinary manipulation of the fire-control-mechanism will show him that the magazine is empty and he can then decide to charge the magazine with further rounds before firing the round in the breech or, in an emergency, he may deside to fire the last round without placing any further rounds in the magazine.

An automatic gun made in accordance with the invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing which shows a side elevation of part of a sixpounder gun constructed according to the invention.

In the drawing, which is a side elevation with parts broken away, the parts are shown in the position where the last round has been fed to the breech and latter has closed, for the sake of economy of illustration, but the following decription will render clear the operation and disposition of the various parts at different stages in the Working of the gun. The gun illustrated is a six-pounder gun having the usual sliding breechblock provided with trigger and firing mechanism.

The particular firing mechanism used is the same as that described and illustrated in the copending United States patent application Serial No. 495,522. As described in said application the sear on the breech-block is adapted to be actuated by a pivoted element on the breech-ring 4, the said pivoted element in turn being adapted to be operated by the fire-control-mechanism described later. The breech-block has a breechopening-lever having an arm 5 carrying a roller 6 which is adapted to run up a cam 'l, pivoted on a pin 56 which is fixed on the cradle, during the latter part of the run-out or counter-recoil movement of the barrel. This arm is fixed on a shaft 8 pivoted in the breech ring 4 and thereby operates an arm in the interior of the breech ring to open the breech and compress a spring to close the breech all as set forth in the above mentioned application.

When the breech-block has been opened it is held by catches in the usual manner and after the breech-block is so held the barrel has still further to travel to finish the run-out, and in moving this further distance the roller 6 of the breech-opening-lever engages a pivoted member located on the opposite side of the lever to that adjacent the cam 7. This pivoted member comprises a bellcrank lever I5, having two arms 20 and 2| referred to later, which is pivoted at l6 on the cradle of the gun and adapted to engage a plunger I! to compress a compressionspring H3 in a tube l9 which is fixed to an extension of the cradle of the gun. The plunger I! has certain functions to perform which do not concern the present invention but the parts are described here because the spring plunger I! and cam '1 together constitute the actuating means for the bell-crank lever l5.

It will be apparent from the description given so far that the arm 2| of the bellcrank lever I5 constituting the pivoted member is raised by the roller 6 of the breech-opening-lever as the latter travels forwardly during the last portion of the run-out.

At the end of the run-out the roller 6 is still pressing on the arm 2| unless a round has been fed into the breech in which case the breechblock would close and the arm 5 and roller 5 would move down to the position shown in the drawing.

As soon as a round is inserted into the breech and its flange strikes the extractors the breechretaining-catches are moved clear of the breechblock and the latter is caused to move upwardly by the breech-closing-spring in the usual way. When the breech-block is closed, the arm 5 and roller 6 move to the position shown in the drawing.

As the gun is fired the barrel with its breechring 4 recoils and as the roller 6 travels to the right, Figure 1, the cam I swings upwards on its pivot 56 to permit this.

The gun is provided with a magazine 35 in which a row of rounds is placed and in which the rounds are fed by means of a spring urged presser-arm 31 to a feeding station at which they are engaged by a ramming device (not shown) which rams them in succession into the breech. Such feeding mechanism is not new and is not part of the present invention, but if desired reference may be made to United States patent application Serial No. 488.454, and now Patent No. 2,418.656 dated April 8, 1947, for an illustration of the automatic feeding and .ram-

ming mechanism. The view shown in the accompanying drawing is a view of the gun similar to Figure 5 of the said specification and may easily be compared therewith.

The firing mechanism as previously stated includes the usual trigger carried on the sliding breech-block, and the pivoted element which is mounted on the breech-ring and adapted to be actuated to operate the trigger on the breechblock. This pivoted element on the breech-ring is adapted to be moved inwardly by a bellcrank lever 32, pivoted on a pin fixed in a bracket on the breech-ring 4, which is part of the fire-control-mechanism, the bellcrank lever in turn being actuated by a push-rod 33 mounted in a pivotally mounted tube 34 and provided with a cushioning spring 35 to reduce shocks in operation. The rear end of tube 34 is adapted to swing upwardly from a position in which the push-rod is in alignment with a face 36 of the said bellcrank lever in the fire-control-mechanism to a position in which it is out of alignment therewith (i. e. a little lower than the position shown in the drawing) so that in the latter case the push rod lies above and on top of the bellcrank lever, and will prevent the pivoted tube from swinging downwardly until the rod is moved to the left, as viewed in the drawing. The tube 34 is pivoted at 37 to a double-armed lever pivoted on a fixed pivot 38 on the cradle of the gun. A rod or cable of any suitable kind is pivoted to the upper arm of the lever at 39 and coupled to liquidpressure means, e. g. a hydraulic device (not shown) by means of which the lever can be oscillated from the position shown in the drawing to a position where the pivot 39 is moved one inch to the right. The movements take place each time a trigger or similar manually controlled device coupled to the liquid-pressure-means is operated by the gunner. The clock-wise movement of the double-armed lever in the drawing causes the push-rod and tube to be moved to the left and thus the rod is brought clear of the end of the bell-crank-lever 32 which is provided with the face 36 and can fall down into alignment with said face, being guided and controlled in this movement by a slotted bracket 55, The hydraulic pressure is provided by any known means, but is as above stated manually controlled, so that when the pivoted tube is in its lower or operative position and the push rodis in alignment with the aforesaid face 36 of the bellcrank lever another operation of the manual control device will cause the double armed lever to move anti-clockwise and the pushrod to move to the right and strike the face 36 of the bellcrank lever which in turn moves the pivoted element on the breech-ring to strike against the trigger on the breech-block.

In order to ensure that the hydraulic mechanism shall be controlled and manually operated for each shot so as to ensure that the gun is properly laid for each shot, the pivoted tube is provided with an abutment 40 which is adapted to engage a cooperating abutment 4| on the pivoted member I5 previously mentioned. Thus at the end of each run-out the pivoted member 15 raises the pivoted barrel of the fire-controlmechanism into the inoperative position and when the breech-block closes and the bellcrank lever 15 moves down again to the position shown in the drawing it allows the pivoted tube to move downwardly (subject to further control by the position of the presser arm 3| asdescribed later) to the operative-position. It will be seen that as the breech-block moves up it causes the roller 6 to move down to the position shown and the pivoted member l5 to swing downwardly under the pressure of the spring I8. It is this lowering of the arm 2| of the pivoted member which allows the pivoted tube to swing down, provided the rod thereof has been moved to the left in the manner described.

If, however, the manual control device of the hydraulic mechanism has not been manipulated, so as to move the pushrod and the pivoted tube 34 to the left, then the rod will rest on top of the bellcrank lever 32 so that the fire-controlmechanism is inoperative. However, if and when the hydraulic mechanism is manipulated to cause the rod and tube to be moved to the left after the breech is closed then further manipulation of the hydraulic mechanism will cause the rod to move to the right and strike the bellcranklever 32 of the fire-control-mechanism which in turn moves the pivoted element on the breech ring and that in turn operates the trigger on the breech-block.

It is also desired to ensure that when the last round in the magazine has been rammed into the breech, that round will not be fired unintentionally. This purpose is effected by arranging that the presser-arm 3| which feeds the rounds towards the feeding station, is operatively connected to the pivoted tube 34 in such a way that when the presser-arm has moved inwardly to its final position after having fed the last round, the tube 34 and push rod will be raised out of alignment with the face 36 of the aforesaid bellcrank lever of the fire-control-mechanism, that is to the position shown in the drawing. The arrangement of the parts is such, however, that if the presser-arm is withdrawn, then the pivoted tube is lowered into alignment with the bellcrank lever of the fire-controlmechanism. The mechanism for providing this control is constructed in the following manner.

The presser-arm 3| is pivoted on a stud 42 on an extension fixed to the cradle of the gun and the boss 43 of the arm is provided with a projecting pin 44. When the presser-arm is nearly at the inward limit of its feeding stroke the pin engages an arm 45 of a bellcrank lever pivoted at 46 on the said extension. The other arm 4''! of the lever is provided with a pin or roller 48 which works in a slot 49 in a lever 50, which is pivoted at 5| on the said extension. The free end of the lever is pivoted at 52 to a link 53 the other end of which is pivoted at 54 to the end of the tube 34. This arrangement thus ensures that when the last round under the control of the presser-arm has been fed into the breech, the gunner, if he desires to fire the round, must pull the presser-arm outwardly to allow the pivoted tube to move down. It is desirable that he should be prevented from firing the last round unintentionally since if that round is fired it is necessary to reload the gun manually as described in United States patent application Serial No. 488,454, and now Patent No. 2,418,656 dated April 8, 1947, and fill the magazine with further rounds before it is possible to make use of the automatic feeding and ramming devices. The arrangement, however, does still leave the firing of the last round under the control of the gunner and, if he finds it necessary to fire that last round or desires to do so, he can do this by first withdrawing the pressure-arm and then operating the manual control device of the hydraulic mechanism.

The manual control device for firing each shot, claimed per se herein as well as in combination with the last shot device, claimed per se in the copending United States patent application Serial No. 540,493, is also claimed in the copending United States patent application Serial No. 540,492 in combination with an auxiliary breechclosing spring arrangement for effecting rapid closing of the breech. The auxiliary breechclosing spring arrangement is also claimed per se, and in combination with both the manual fire control and the last shot device, in said application Serial No. 540,492.

What 'I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an automatic gun including a recoiling barrel and breech trigger mechanism, fire control mechanism including an actuating member movable to actuate said trigger mechanism, means mounting said actuating member for movement from an operative position, in which it can move to actuate said trigger mechanism when the gun has returned to battery, to an inoperative position, means operated by the counterrecoil movement of said barrel so constructed and arranged as to move said actuating member from'its operative position to its inoperative position each time the gun returns to battery, an abutment for retaining said actuating member in said inoperative position, and means arranged to be manually operated for moving said actuating member in one direction for releasing it from said abutment and restoring it to its operative position and in another direction for causing it to actuate said trigger mechanism when it is in its operative position.

2. In an automatic gun including a recoiling barrel and breech trigger mechanism, fire control mechanism including a push rod movable to actuate said trigger mechanism, means mounting said push rod for movement from an operative position, in which it can move to actuate said trigger mechanism when the gun has returned to battery, to an inoperative position, means operated by the counterrecoil movement of said barrel so constructed and arranged as to move said push rod from its operative position to its inoperative position each time the gun returns to battery, an abutment for retaining said push rod in said inoperative position, and means arranged to be manually operated for moving said push rod in one direction for releasing it from said abutment and restoring it to its operative position and in another direction for causing it to actuate said trigger mechanism when it is in its operative position.

3. In an automatic gun including a recoiling barrel and breech trigger mechanism, fire control mechanism for operating said trigger mechanism including a push rod, a tube in which said push rod is movable, a spring in said tube cooperating with said push rod for urging it outwardly, means pivotally mounting said tube for movement from a position in which said push rod is efiective to actuate said trigger mechanism to an inoperative position, an abutment for retaining said push rod in said inoperative position, means operated by the counterrecoil movement of said barrel for moving said push rod from its first named position into engagement with said abutment, and means arranged to be manually operated to retract said push rod and release the same from said abutment for return to operative relationship with said trigger mechanism.

'4. In an automatic gun including a recoiling barrel and breech trigger mechanism, fire control mechanism for operating said trigger mechanism including a movable member, means mounting said movable member for movement from an operative position in which it is efiective to actuate said trig er mechanism to an inoperative position, an abutment for retaining said movable member in said inoperative position, means operated by the counterrecoil movement of said barrel for moving said movable member from its operative position to its position in engagement with said abutment, means arranged to be manually operated for releasing said movable member from said abutment and restoring the same to operative position, a magazine having a member arranged to move with the rounds in said magazine and a connection between said last named member and said first named movable member and operable to retain said first named movable member in inoperative position when said last named movable member reaches a position corresponding to the last round having been fed from said magazine.

5. In an automatic gun including a recoiling barrel and breech trigger mechanism, fire control mechanism for operating said trigger mechanism including a movable member, means mounting said movable member for movement from an operative position in which it is effective to actuate said trigger mechanism to an inoperative position, an abutment for retaining said movable member in said inoperative position, means operated by the counterrecoil movement of said barrel for moving said movable member from 3 its operative position to its position in engagement with said abutment, means arranged to be manually operated for releasing said movable member from said abutment and restoring the 5 same to operative position, a magazine having a member arranged to move with the rounds in said magazine and a connection between said last named member and said first named movable member and operable to retain'said first named 10 movable member in inoperative position when said last named movable member reaches a .position corresponding to the last round having been fed from said magazine, said operative-connection freeing said first named movable mem- 15 her to the action of said manually operable means upon withdrawal of said magazine mem-' ber'from its aforesaidposition,

FELIX FREDERIC RUAU.

20 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

